In addition to being a publisher of personal appeals, Wikipedia is also a vast repository of knowledge. Here’s a sampling:

The Egg War is the name given to an 1863 conflict between rival egging companies on the Farallon Islands, 25 miles off San Francisco. It was the culmination of several years of tension between the (Pacific) Egg Company, which claimed the right to collect the eggs on the islands, and several rival firms. The resulting violence claimed two lives, but left the Egg Company in sole control of the islands’ eggs. Its victory was short lived; the company sold the rights to use the islands in the late 1870s and the federal government removed all egging companies from the islands in 1881.

Even though I’ve lived through quite a few Christmas seasons here in the Mission, for some reason I’ve never noticed these Christmas lights adorning all the trees lining 24th Street. Do these get put up every year? Who is behind this festive endeavor? With Thanksgiving weekend still in its death throws, they sure didn’t waste any time!

For those of you who want to get a sense of how we celebrate the holidays here at MM, just pour a little whiskey in your champurrado and sit around the fireplace listening to this: